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“Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off” –  Taylor Swift

It was bound to happen.

One of the biggest things anyone faces when they put themselves into the public eye is negativity, criticism, or downright abject hate.

We all have unique backgrounds, unique personalities, and personal beliefs.

Because of this, it is incredibly rare to find something that is universally liked across the globe.

I guess I should take it as a compliment that this website has grown and expanded its reach across the blogosphere to a point that it too has drawn the ire of some rather harsh critics.

Of course there are positives that can be taken from any criticism, especially when it is of the constructive type.

It serves us no purpose if we choose to place ourselves in the so called “Echo Chamber” which basically resonates with only like minded ideas.

It also certainly does not help with personal growth if we choose to only surround ourselves with ingratiating sycophants that blindly agree to whatever may come out of our mouths.

To do so would put us at risk for a modern day version of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” parable.

I am the first to admit that XRAYVSN, both the website and the man behind the website, are certainly not everyone’s cup of tea.

When I first burst on the scene in April 2018, there was some constructive criticism I received with some viewers who were having difficulty reading the posts due to the white lettering on a dark background (even my girlfriend, who is one of my biggest supporters said that she was having some issues with it but, like a true trooper, she dealt with it).

In particular, a growing faction of individuals in the White Coat Forum,  a community that I was formerly very much a part of, started expressing dissent on my color scheme/website design.

As previously mentioned, I had created a substantial amount of posts before I even launched the website.

By the time this particular criticism hit me, I was well over 50 posts deep.

Initially there was no simple solution I could think of as a drastic color scheme change would require me to individual edit each post and change the various highlighted colored texts to something that would not “wash out” on a light background.

This was a daunting and incredibly time-consuming task and one that I could not see myself doing.

I finally came up with, what I thought was an elegant and brilliant, solution of creating a parallel/mirrored website which I fondly dubbed, “Jedi Mode,” playing on the dark side versus the light side theme of Star Wars.

Bam!

I thought the problem was solved and I would silence those critics.

Honestly I was not sure what to expect when I visited a White Coat Forum thread that announced this new, “lightened version,” but I honestly thought I would get an “attaboy!” for trying at the very least.

Unfortunately I came away from reading the comments in that thread quite disheartened as commentators, and one in particular, seemed to continue to relish participating in what for me was a hate tirade.

Here are just some of the comments that I encountered that slowly whittled away the enthusiasm I had going into that thread:

“Sorry but this guy doesn’t have an eye for web design aesthetics, at all.”– Commentator A

 

“Website design is very childish, amateurish. reminds [me] of the geocities websites from many years ago.

Plus the name of the website is very dumb, doesn’t give any indication of what the website is about. XRAYVSN??” – Commentator A

“[Commentator A] doesn’t find the writing engaging, writing is childish and repetitive. If feedback is wanted [Commentator A] will give feedback.”– Commentator A

“LOL, most of hits are probably people from this forum curious to see how’s bad the website is!” -Commentator A in response to a previous comment that XRAYVSN must be doing well to have certain advertisers sponsor the blog.

“My problem with the website besides the design is it seems to be just a copy, me too type of website with little to no original content. Not entertaining, just piggybacking off content from other websites trying to make a dime. Not interested.” -Commentator A

Several of these separate posts on this thread were made by Commentator A with no intervening comments (akin to someone about to leave a room after ending an argument and then quickly circling back and saying, “And Furthermore!…..)

“Why on earth would I listen to any financial advice on a website that looks like this?!?” – Commentator B

[This particular type of person is one I assume gives priority to appearance versus substance.   

Financial advice can ONLY come from someone with a trail of letters behind their name or a degree from a prestigious university. 

The time of day is ONLY valid if it comes from a Rolex or a Patek Phillipe rather than a Timex.

(I actually own a Daytona Rolex and I will tell you that it keeps AWFUL time (acceptable accuracy range is -4 to +6 seconds per day!) and far less reliable than a $10 digital watch you can get at a drugstore).]

A few remaining commentators also threw in some jokes to end the thread such as “Definitely A Radiologist” or “Any option for neither of the above?” in response to my poll at the end of the post asking which color scheme they preferred.

I chose to not participate in this particular thread because the one time I got involved in another forum thread defending an attack on my character, my profession, and my parenting, it turned quite ugly and I felt awful about it later.

I could see how “flame wars” can quickly get out of hand as participants attack each other via their online personas in ways that no civil people would do face to face.

I wish I could truly follow Taylor Swift’s sound advice and shake it off and develop some thicker skin.

But through this experience I have found yet another incredible benefit of Financial Independence.

This blog, and the revenue generated from it, truly has nothing to do with my future financial success.

My frugality and high savings rate along with sound investing has set me up for a great financial future.

I may not be at the point where I have FU money set aside to drop my primary occupation as a radiologist, but it certainly is far more than enough that I do not feel the need to chase every potential dollar I could earn from this blog by trying to appease everyone (an impossible task).

That for me is true financial freedom.

I can do something I love (writing, interacting with the online community (at least the friendlier ones), put out a product that I am proud of and like, and not be overly concerned by the haters who will always find something to hate.

As I have touched on before, there is a potential for “survey bias” that no doubt plays a part in a thread with commentary such as the examples above.

Those who are happy with a product are less likely to comment whereas as those that have a negative opinion are more likely to showcase it (and repeatedly do so as Commentator A happily did).

[At one point I questioned if I had somehow did something egregious to his family in the past and he was on a personal vendetta.]

For those who frequent XRAYVSN I thank you for your continued support and comments.

I hope that you find the content worthy to overcome any flaws you see in either website version.

And for those that find neither the content or design appealing, no hard feelings.

The great thing about the physician blogging community is that there are so many great options out there.

Your resource of time is limited and I would much rather you use it wisely on a website you deem worthy of it

(The Hospital page I have created gives you an easy way to see all the great content currently offered at once by the 80+ physician bloggers out there).

After having said my peace, I leave you with this:

Note:

If you are in search of financial help, please consider enlisting the service of any of the sponsors of this blog who I feel are part of the “good guys and gals of finance.”

Even a steadfast DIY’er can sometimes gain benefit from the occasional professional input.

If you find yourself enjoying this blog, please add to Xrayvsn’s superpowers by subscribing (your email will be kept private and you will get up to date emails regarding the latest posts and bonus material like the net worth spreadsheet template I created).

As my email subscriber list grows it validates my decision to start this blog and to continue to try and provide worthy content for your eyes.

Thank you

-Xrayvsn